True Potential
by TheSilverboar
Summary: A simple accident. That was all that it took to stop him from using Crocea Mors in his combat class. Through that accident a betrayal is exposed and his restraints are unleashed as Jaune discovers his true potential. Inspired by 'fearless hero' in season 2 episode 5 of RWBY Chibi. Pairing undecided, currently rated M to be safe for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This idea came about from RWBY Chibi, where Jaune steals everyone's weapons and is suddenly able to take out Mercury and Emerald with a single blow. I get that it was exaggerated but it got me thinking, what if it was Crocea Mors itself that was hindering Jaune.**

True Potential

Chapter 1

-Jaune-

"Alright students," Goodwitch looked down at her large clipboard sized scroll as Weiss and Dove left the arena, having just finished the first duel of the days combat class "next we'll have Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester."

"Um, Ma'am," he spoke up nervously as he felt all eyes turn towards him "I wasn't able to get my locker to open earlier so I don't have a weapon." He had his armor but unlike Yang he wasn't a master at the ancient art of casting fist.

"Ah yes, a few of the lockers have shown that malfunction recently but it's being handled. You will simply have to use a stock weapon for the day then." The professor pointed to a wrack of weapons that were even more plain than Crocea Mors, the lot of them simply cast and showing no true durability of a real huntsman's weapon.

"Jaune can't use those!" Ruby looked aghast at that suggestion, the little Reaper always seeming offended at the stock cast weapons on that wrack, her inner weapon fanatic insulted at the lack of passion put into making them. She hands him Crescent Rose reverently "CR, take care of Jaune for me. Jaune, if she gets scratched you die." He had no idea how she still sounded innocent while saying that.

"What?!" Nora exclaimed, jumping up and trying to push the scythe away from him "No! If fearless leader uses another weapon it should be Magnhild!" she waved the grenade launcher hammer.

"Milo and Akouo are closer to what Jaune's used to." Pyrrah adds as well, the rest of his friends thankfully not joining into the three-way disagreement on who's weapon he should use. The argument was drawn to a close when Ruby did what the others would, rightly, insist was cheating.

She gave him the puppy eyes.

"Alright, alright!" he sighed and took the sniper scythe as Ruby gave a little cheer, his female teammates pouting at that "And don't worry, I'll use your weapons next time if you want." He promised them.

"You can't use your armor though." Ruby started undoing the straps to his armor before he could protest "You're too slow with this clunky stuff."

"Oi!" he tries to get away from her, but she kept using her semblance to take off more and more pieces of his metal defenses "I kind of need those Ruby, I'm not used to going without armor! Especially with a weapon I've never even touched before."

"Don't worry about it Jauney boy," Cardin grinned, the massive mace wielder removing his own armor "I'll go without too. Wouldn't want the fight to be too easy after all." Pinching the bridge of his nose Jaune gave in and let Ruby remove his armor, trying not to sigh at Cardin's comment. While the larger student had improved a great deal personality wise since Forever Fall he still had his moments.

"If you are both ready." The impatient teacher spoke up as Ruby finally removed the last of his armor "Then proceed to the arena." Knowing that testing Goodwitch's patience would be bad for the health of everyone involved, Jaune and Cardin hurried down to the arena.

"Ready Jauney Boy?" Cardin grinned, swinging his mace in an arc to get loose.

Jaune didn't answer in words, taking a deep breath he focused, pulling up the memory of every time he saw Ruby using her scythe and his body reacted, swinging it about in a circle pattern before slamming it into the ground as he had often seen Ruby do as a dramatic opening "Ready." Part of his mind noted that he had never been able to move that easily before when fighting but he pushed it aside, focusing on the fight itself.

There was a pause before Cardin charged, swinging the mace to try and catch Jaune in the rib cage. His mind running faster than it ever had in a fight before he pulled Crescent Rose from the ground and charged at his attacker, dropping to his knees and sliding under the mace when he got close. With a smirk he pulled the trigger on the scythe's handle, the recoil spinning him, the curved blade catching Cardin's legs and sending the orange haired fighter up into the air while Jaune was able to follow through on the spin to get back on his feet.

"Okay, that's new." Cardin grunted, using the mace to push himself up while Ruby could be heard in the background saying she had to remember that trick. Eyes narrowed, Cardin began to circle him, apparently taking their match far more seriously now, much to Jaune's chagrin. Seeing Cardin pull his arm back to slam the mace down, the sign that warned of a coming wave of dust explosion, Jaune fired a bullet at Cardin's shoulder the larger fighter finishing the attack but in having to dodge it went wide, giving Jaune a chance to charge.

What he hadn't expected was for Cardin to lash out with a foot, kicking Jaune in the chest with a massive boot as spit went flying and he was sent crashing back. "Looks like I'm not the only one with new tricks." Jaune wheezed, eyeing Cardin who was letting him get back on his feet like he had done earlier.

"Of course, now come on Jauney Boy! You're finally fun to fight!" Cardin crowed, charging once again. Focusing on dodging the swings of the heavy Weapon, Jaune tuned out the world around him and focused on making a plan. Noticing a pattern, he found his body moving before his brain could catch up.

Letting Cardin get a bit closer he saw the overhead strike coming and leapt up, avoiding the impact as the bladed mace dug into the ground. With a yell, Jaune brought the blade of Crescent Rose down between the open teeth of Cardin's weapon, pinning it down before using the Sniper riffle on the scythe to spin himself again, locking his legs as his feet slammed into a stunned Cardin's face and sent the taller fighter flying, now weaponless. Not giving up the momentum he pried Crescent Rose from the ground and charged at the still dazed Cardin and swung the flat back of the shaft against his opponent's chest like a baseball bat, hitting him hard enough to send Cardin out of the ring, signifying the end of the fight.

"The winner is Jaune Arc." Goodwitch announces, even her professionalism cracking to show her shock at that result.

"Nice job Jauney Boy," Cardin grunted, getting up and dusting himself off "good to see you're finally fighting like a huntsman. Who knew you just needed a different weapon."

"That was awesome!" a weight landed on his back as team RWBY and the rest of team JNPR walked down, Ruby having jumped onto his back "Crescent Rose makes anyone invincible!"

"Mr. Arc," The deputy headmistress approached, her eyes like steel as he fought back a gulp, desperately wondering what he had done wrong "let me see your armor." Now thoroughly confused he handed the pieces of metal Nora brought down over to the professor as she studied them intently. Nobody else spoke, the other first year teams in the arena all feeling the tension, all able to sense that something was very wrong. "That damn bastard." Hearing the always professional Glynda Goodwitch hiss out that profanity was almost as terrifying as her expression but far more shocking.

"Um…teach?" Yang asked warily before letting out a small 'meep' when the infamous riding crop got pointed in her face.

"Mr. Arc am I correct in assuming your father gave you your armor and weapons?" she asked, studying him intently.

"Y-yes ma'am." He nodded, still not sure where this was going "They were a gift when I got my Beacon acceptance letter." It had been one of the happiest moments of his life, having a sign that his father had finally accepted his dream of wanting to be a huntsman. The look of pity the woman was giving him gave him all kinds of bad feelings about that gift though.

"Class, pay attention." The professor slapped her riding crop against her palm as everyone sat up ramrod straight, all attention having already been locked onto her being "I'm about to explain a process to you that is normally not taught until your final year at Beacon due to the complexity of putting it into practice." Tapping her scroll she brought up a diagram on the screen.

"Each and every individual with an unlocked aura possesses a semblance, whether they've discovered said ability or not." She began to lecture, pulling up a silhouette of a human with an aura bar and that silhouette going from standing to shooting lightning as an example. "There is a difficult process that many huntsmen do to make their semblances easier to use for themselves or to aide their comrades. A skilled user of aura can infuse said energy into an object which gives it the effect of their semblance. My riding crop, for example, is one I am frequently infusing with my aura to aide in the use of my telekinetic semblance."

"What does this have to do with me?" he asked, a sinking feeling in his gut assuring him that he would not like the answer.

"Mr. Arc, your father's semblance is that he can make others stronger or weaker, affecting both mind and body. Your armor is saturated with his aura and just by picking it up I could feel it weakening my faculties. Each individual piece of armor, and likely your weapons too, were set up to make you weaker and unable to think as clearly while in contact with them."

"He…he wanted me to…to get killed?" he took a stunned step back, not wanting to believe it but having never known Goodwitch to lie about anything major, especially the safety of her students.

"It could be that he wanted to make you drop out, but this was still a sever endangerment to your health." He had never seen the woman as angry as she was now and the only relief he felt was that the anger wasn't directed at him. "I will be taking you armor and weapons, I need to document this, and I will bring this to Ozpin, I'm sure the headmaster will be having words with your father about all this. The school will provide a budged to help you in the construction of new equipment. Class is dismissed!" with that she took the armor and stormed out of the room, the session ending over an hour early as the other teams dispersed, processing what they heard.

"Jaune." Cardin looked serious "If I ever meet your dad, I'm smashing his face in with my mace."

"Hey, I get first crack at him!" Nora protested angrily, swinging Magnhild as if Jaune's father were already there.

"You can have his knees, I get the face." Cardin countered

"I will help as well." A for once angry Ren contributed, every member of teams RWBY, JNPR, and CDNL looking ready to commit murder.

"I'll help you make a new weapon Jaune!" Ruby promised earnestly, giving him a tight hug as his knees felt weak, the fact of what his father did taking his strength away "And you can show him what a big dummy he is!" he didn't answer, he just hugged his friend tighter as his shoulders began to silently shake.

 **AN: I'll be designing Jaune's weapon myself, but I haven't decided what type of weapon it will be yet. Here are the options I'm deciding from so let me know which one you would like to see Jaune use and why.**

 **Twin scythes that can combine into one (think Darksiders 2)**

 **Sword and shield**

 **Sword and minor weapon (pistol, knife, etc)**

 **Greatsword**

 **Battleaxe (two handed)**

 **Waraxe (one handed)**

 **Chain blades (think Kratos, god of war)**

 **Clawed gauntlets**

 **Spear**

 **Spear and shield**

 **Chain whip**

 **Staff**

 **Dual wielding weapons**

 **Club/hammer/mace**

 **I'll also be including secondary back up weapons such as pistols and daggers so suggestions for those or armor you'd like will be considered. Anyone who gives me an idea I use will be credited.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Holy fanbase did you guys respond last chapter! I never expected to get that many responses that quickly, but I have a decision on Jaune's main weapon. He'll be using a single chain weapon on his main hand paired with a clawed gauntlet (a suggestion from reviewer 'doubledamn') while his offhand has a shield. I also intend to give him medium armor.**

 **The chains I've decided on are:**

 **1\. blades (standard blades of chaos)**

 **2\. hooks (think claws of hades)**

 **3\. dust element whip heads (my own variant of nemesis whip)**

 **4\. hammer (mcu Mjolnir)**

 **5\. regular chain**

 **6\. axe head**

 **7\. scythe**

 **8\. dagger**

 **That being said I haven't decided his on his secondary weapons. Once again, I'd like your opinions so here are the options:**

 **Revolver**

 **SMG**

 **Shotgun**

 **Combat knives/daggers**

 **Explosives & flash bombs/smoke bombs**

 **Taser variant**

 **gow (2018) shattered gauntlet of ages**

 **boomerang**

 **dust magic**

 **MCU Yondu arrow**

 **AN2: I also haven't decided the pairing for this story, but it will NOT be with Pyrrha, Ruby, or Weiss. Here are the main options I'm thinking of so say which you want and tell me why. If you want someone not on the list tell me who and also why, I'm going for reasonings, not number of votes.**

 **Ciel Soleil**

 **Velvet**

 **Arslan Altan**

 **May Zedong**

 **Neopolitan**

 **Reese Chloris**

 **Nora Valkyrie**

 **Vernal**

 **Nebula Violette**

 **Amber (for shits and giggles)**

 **Cinder Fall (for shits and giggles)**

True Potential

Chapter 2

-Jaune-

"Enter." Gulping at the steel in the voice he pushed open the door to Ozpin's office, the rest of team JNPR as well as teams RWBY and CRDL following behind him. Inside the office he saw professors Ozpin and Goodwitch glaring at the pile of white armor as well as Crocea Mors.

"Mr. Arc," Goodwitch's eyes softened ever so slightly as she gestured for the group to sit "we just finished having a…conversation with your father."

"Judging by your tones I assume charges will not be levied against the miserable cur?" Weiss' cold voice cut through the tension. While they hadn't started off very well, something he blamed his father's advice and sabotage armor for, they had at least become amicable since he apologized and stopped trying to ask her out three times a day.

"We confronted him but sadly he had a response planned in case anyone found the armor." Ozpin gripped his mug to the point Jaune was worried it might crack. "His excuse was that he hadn't used that technique for some time and had intended to make the armor enhance Jaune's skills rather than weaken them. Because we can't _prove_ he set the armor to intentionally hinder you we can't do anything. Be prepared though, he will likely try something else."

"But why?" Ruby asked, his friend having been trying and failing to wrap her head around a parent wanting to hinder their child since Goodwitch found the 'cursed' armor.

"Because Mr. Arc's father is rather like Ms. Schnee's." Ozpin gave Weiss a look as she frowns, trying to figure out exactly what the headmaster meant. "To understand you'll need to know a bit more about the Arc family. They're one of the oldest known Huntsmen clans, older than even the Schnee's," Ozpin explained as he could see his friends looking surprised at that "their numbers have dwindled over the ages due to time, bad luck, and the fact that most Arcs become warriors which doesn't always beget a long life. Now, your Mr. Arc's father wasn't born into this family, he married into it and took their name." Weiss got a look of recognition on her face at that scenario.

"But what does that have to do with him giving Jauney Boy rigged armor?" Cardin asked, eyes narrowed in confusion, something that even Jaune himself shared.

"Your family charter Mr. Arc, it states that the head of the family must be born an Arc, be at least eighteen years of age, a male, and a huntsman. You are currently seventeen years old and the last-born male of your family. The previous head of clan Arc, your grandfather, was a good friend of mine and intended to oversee your training himself before he passed when you were a child. Your father is the current standing head until you fulfill the requirements but if you never become a huntsman you can't accept headship of the family and he can keep the authority."

"That asshole!" hearing innocent little Ruby curse like that was shocking enough for Ozpin himself to drop his legendary mug, hot drink flowing over the tile floor.

"Where did you learn that?!" Yang demanded, looking ready to kill whoever corrupted her baby sister.

"Yang…I'm fifteen, not five." Ruby deadpanned, "I went to Signal just like you did, and you know that we heard far worse than that every day in the cafeteria."

"Ms. Rose' vocabulary aside," Ozpin sounded vaguely amused at the near nervous breakdown Yang seemed to be having "you'll need to make a new weapon Mr. Arc, and as Ms. Goodwitch said, Beacon will provide a portion of Lien to help with that endeavor. The foundry is in the basement room 3A and comes with basic metals and full forging equipment. You'll have to have at least some weapon by the end of the month for classes.

"I'll make Jaune the best weapon ever!" Ruby crowed eagerly, her eyes shining with excitement at the prospect of making a new weapon.

"What about Crescent Rose?" he pointed out amused, having an idea what would come next.

"I'll make Jaune the second-best weapon ever!" Ruby crowed, not loosing an ounce of enthusiasm.

"And maybe without that armor we can discover your semblance." Pyrrha pointed out with a smile, the others sounding eager about that, all of them wondering what his semblance would be given his massive pool of aura.

"One last thing before you all go," Ozpin told them as they all began getting up, "The four schools are hosting a competition between them as an extra event for the upcoming Vytal festival. Four teams will be formed, taking a student from each academy, and putting them through a series of competitive tasks. We intend to use mainly first and second year teams for this so I'm giving you forewarning about it."

"We won't let you down sir." Jaune grinned, feeling like the weight of the world was off his shoulders without that armor from his father. Looking down at the pile of metal he got an idea, "Sir, the aura curse my dad put on it, it's imbued in the metal itself, right?"

"Yes, it is," Goodwitch nodded, "the aura within it should fade away within a decade or so given its potency, why?"

"Just a little idea I had for the armor." His grin made some of his friends shiver, "Oh, I'm definitely going to have fun with this." Scooping up the metal he turned to Ruby, "Come on Rubes, I'll need your help with this."

-Michael Arc-

Frowning, the current Arc patriarch brought in a package and set it on the kitchen table, having just found it left on the front step by the mailman. His wife was out getting groceries while his daughters were all out doing various huntress assignments. Luckily none of the eight women had been around when Ozpin had called the day before and now he had the family scrolls programmed to forward all calls from Beacon to himself.

Pulling out a knife he cut the tape around the box and opened the lid, seeing it full of packing peanuts. Or that was what he saw for a split second as opening the box triggered a blast of air, sending the peanuts flying into his face and mouth. Eye twitching, he spat out a wad of packing material and saw a metal sculpture of a hand inside the box, the sculpture giving him the bird.

Scowling, Michael Arc picked up the small statuette and felt the debilitating effects, realizing it was from the armor he sent away with Jaune he quickly tossed it back inside the box. "Smart assed brat." He growled out, irritated at the impudence of his son at sending such a thing to him. He had tried playing nice and convincing Jaune to do anything besides being a huntsman but no, the child had to be stubborn and pigheaded. Noticing something he looked at the statue again, noting that there was still a good deal of metal missing.

 **AN: I haven't picked his semblance yet, so suggestions will be taken as the story progresses, but I plan to wait a bit before focusing that, still settling on his equipment.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Great news everybody! My copyright finally went through so this mega update is to celebrate! My short story is called 'The Stranger' and you can find it on amazon. There will be a link to it on the Facebook page for my stories. I want to thank everyone for supporting as I write and for anyone who ends up getting my story. This is hopefully the latest step to becoming a full-time writer.**

 **AN2: I wasn't clear in the AN of last chapter. Those weren't options for Jaune's chain weapon, he's using all of them and they're interchangeable. I meant he'll use one at a time.**

 **AN3: Thanks for the suggestions last chapter, I've decided on Jaune's secondary weapons, pistols and the Yondu arrow (which will have features to make it not as OP)**

 **AN4: Current semblance options:**

 **1\. powers like Sans from Undertale**

 **2\. Ultimate shield akin to Greed from FMA**

 **3\. intangibility**

 **4\. Duplication**

 **5\. cyclops laser eyes (for shits and giggles)**

 **6\. elemental weapons**

 **AN5: Final options for pairing:**

 **1\. Vernal**

 **2\. Ciel Soleil**

 **3\. Reese Chloris**

 **4\. Arslan Altan**

True Potential

Chapter 3

-Jaune-

"Alright, your little prank over and done with, let's work on your weapon." Ruby grinned, the small statuette having just been mailed out as even Weiss couldn't help but be amused by the idea. "Anything you want to start with? Liiiike a scythe maybe?"

"I'm actually wanting a shield for starters." He chuckled, the three teams all down at the forge with a variety of cast weapons which Ruby was accepting only as tools to see what weapon style suited him.

"But…but scythe!" Ruby whined, "I wanna have a Scythe buddy!"

"Maybe we'll have a scythe too, but I want a shield for my equipment." He told her "And for armor I'm thinking something a little less heavy that the plate I had before."

"Fine," Ruby grumbled "party pooper. We can have a shield." Pulling out paper Ruby made an astonishingly fast sketch of him that looked almost picture perfect, "Yang, can you go make some copies of this for me." The little reaper asked, handing the sketch over to Yang before pulling out a tape measure and several different shield types, "We need to measure your height compared to the shields as we decide what type to make for you." They tried every type of shield they could find cast molds for, from small bucklers to gigantic tower shields. Eventually they settled on a kite shield base, neither too big nor too small.

"Alright, that's decided," he nodded as they began looking at armor "I'm wanting something between heavy and light armor. Maybe leather with some plating? I liked the range of motion and I got without the plate armor, but I also like having protection."

"I get what you're saying." Ruby nodded, making some rough sketches of possible armors as Weiss added her own input, the heiress looking more than a little impressed at the speed and accuracy of Ruby's drawings.

"For a weapon we could get Jaune a pistol just, so he has _something_ to qualify for combat classes while we work on getting an actual weapon made." Ren suggests, most of their friends not able to do much at the moment besides offer ideas and play around with the cast weapons.

"I'll have a pistol commissioned and here within the week." Weiss promised, "Atlas has the most advanced pistol designs in the world, General Ironwood himself uses one."

"Try to get the schematics as well if you can." Ruby's eyes shone excitedly "I might be able to improve them, or at least make something that works better for Jaune based off them."

"I'll try but I make no promises." Weiss frowned, moving off to the side to make a phone call about the pistol.

"Weiss…thank you." He said, touched that she'd go out of her way to order what was likely a very expensive weapon for him.

"You're not a bad person Arc, and not even all that annoying now that you stopped pestering me for a date." She sent him a faint smirk to show she was teasing "I'll expect a favor later but at the moment I don't see a problem doing this to help a…friend."

"Aaaaaaw, Weiss does have a heart." Yang cooed out, glomping a flustered and irritated heiress in a hug as Weiss fought for freedom.

"Children." Ruby sighed to him before looking down at their sketches, selected various parts from different ideas until they had their final design for the armor. Much like they had done before with the shield, Ruby took the different measurements of him and added them to the sketch so when she drew the armor and shield on him they could tell how large each piece needed to be.

"Now for my weapon." He nodded, moving over to the pile of cast weapons where everyone else was waiting and debating what he should use, "I'd rather not have anything that mecha-shifts for the primary weapon, keep it simple at least for now."

"Alright, that makes things easier." Ruby nods, looking at the different piles of weapons sorted into different varieties. "Given the fact you want a shield that eliminated anything like a bow or crossbow and unless you can use it one handed, the larger weapons are out too."

Looking at the massive hammers and zanbatos, Jaune gulped and nodded "I think one handing those would end rather badly for me." Moving the discarded options into a 'no' pile he looked at what was left, "Let's also remove the boomerangs and throwing knives for the main weapons, maybe as a back up option at some point but not for this."

"You'll likely want something you can use while staying mobile given the fact you've chosen armor and a shield that allow easier movement." Pyrrah gave her input "A sword maybe?"

"Maybe." He allowed, picking up a mid-sized sword and giving it a test swing "But all of my family use swords. I want to set myself apart from the arcs that came before me. All of them used Crocea Mors, a simple sword and shield, nothing more. If I'm going to be different right off the bat then I better go all the way with it."

"Go for the weird ones first." Cardin told him, "Non-standard weapons are harder to counter as people aren't used to seeing them and if you find one of those that works well for you then you'll definitely stand out."

Nodding, Jaune began trying the different weapons. Some of them he was able to use to an extent, but they didn't feel right to him, others were failures from the start. He tried a Chakram but kept slipping and was worried about cutting himself if he tried to keep using it, nunchaku got taken away after he came close to removing his ability to have children, and he wasn't even allowed to try explosives before Weiss yanked the grenade out of his hand.

Picking up a steel whip he gave it a crack, trying to direct it towards a practice dummy with decent enough success. "It feels better than the others but not quite there." He told Ruby as she eyed the whip in his hand.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Nora exclaimed eagerly, grabbing a couple items before dragging Pyrrah off to the side. A couple minutes later Nora returned, proudly carrying a hammer with a chain attached to the bottom of the handle, the other end of the chain connected to a simple gauntlet, all of it likely fused together through Pyrrah's semblance. "Try this Jaune Jaune!" Nora grinned, pushing the gauntlet onto his arm and the hammer in his hand.

Eyeing the strange combination he gave the hammer a few swings and, finding the weight surprisingly workable, threw it at a dummy. "It…it feels great!" he grinned, eyes alight as he began trying different ways of using the chain weapon, "If we make a few more chain combinations then I think we have a winner!"

"I could add a gauntlet to the right arm of your armor." Ruby nodded as she took the chain weapon from him to get the measurements "It could house the chain and attach to whatever weapon head you feel like using."

"You're the best Rubes," he laughed, scooping her and Nora up into a hug and spinning them around "once this is done we're heading to Vale for all you can eat cookies and pancakes!"

"Huzzah!" Nora and Ruby cheered, as excited as he was at the prospect of their favorite foods. Going over to the main sketch she had made of Jaune, Ruby added a clawed gauntlet to his right arm and signed the bottom. "We'll start with the shield," Ruby told him "with that and the pistol you can take place in combat class. After the shield we'll do the armor, then your chain weapons. It'll be fun to see what heads we can put on your chain when we get to that point."

"Be sure to make the design a good one Ruby," Weiss told her "presentation is important."

"Yes mom." Ruby rolled her eyes, dodging a cuff upside the head from her partner but finalizing the aesthetics for the pieces.

"Ruby, you rule!" Jaune grinned, seeing the design "I'm gonna look like a badass."

"Then we'll just have to make you fight like one." Cardin teased him as he sulked, trying not to crack a grin as his friends all laughed at the ribbing. Things were finally looking up.

 **AN: Images for Jaune's base armor and shield will be on the facebook page for my stories.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Alright everyone, I've settled on four options for the semblance. Tell me which one you want, and more importantly WHY you want it. Final will be chosen based off reasoning and votes so both factors are important. I selected the two with the most votes from the last poll and added two more. They are:**

 **Sans powers**

 **Laster eyes**

 **Toxic aura cloak (think Naruto early bijuu cloak)**

 **Short distance teleportation**

 **AN2: Much like for the semblance, say who you want and why for the pairing. For the pairing the final options are- WARNING! NEW CONTENDERS APPROACHING! NEW CONTENDER APPROACHING! BRACE FOR IMMINENT REFERENCES!**

 **Vernal**

 **Reese**

 **Surprise new contender- Blake 'the Bellabooty' Belladonna**

 **Surprise new contender- RWBY verse version of Red Monika (she's a character based off the game Jaune's armor is from. Just google her as she actually is a fun character with her personality and interactions in the game)**

True Potential

Chapter four

-Ruby-

"Next up we have Jaune Arc against Sage Ayana." Professor Goodwitch called out, preparing for the final fight of the day. It had been a week since She and the others had designed Jaune's weapon of choice and so far he had a shield thanks to her masterful Smithing skills and the pistol Weiss had promised which had arrived the day before.

Grinning eagerly, Jaune slipped on his new shield, Sorrow, and drew his pistol, Redemption. Stepping down into the arena she saw Sun's teammate waiting, the other students from different academies having just arrived that day "You ready Goldie locks?" Sage grunted, hefting a massive great sword, "Sun told me you were the weakest of your year at this academy."

"I don't have to take this shit from the giant brick who's trying way to hard to compensate." Jaune snorted, nodding to the giant sword even the rest of their group began to cheer. Beside them, Sun looked surprised at the trash talking.

"You little!" Sage glared, apparently not appreciated the jab.

"Gentlemen, if you are quite finished, we may begin." Professor Goodwitch sighed out, "The rules are to aura red or ring out. When the counter reaches one, you may begin." The professor began the timer and walked off the stage as Jaune and Sage readied their weapons.

"Hey guys, what's with Jaune?" Sun asked, the monkey Faunus having had to leave beacon to meet up with his schools contingent after the docks, missing the incident when Jaune's cursed armor was found, "I thought he used a sword and shield…and armor."

"Jaune's dad is a bastard and used his semblance so that each piece of armor Jaune wore plus the sword and shield made Jaune weaker, slower, and dumber." Cardin scowled, the once bully having become a fiercely protective friend, "Last week Jaune's locker couldn't open so he borrowed the pipsqueak's weapon and beat me with it despite never having touched the thing before."

"Crescent Rose is not a thing!" she snapped, jabbing a finger up into Cardin's face, standing on the bench so she could look the giant in the eye "But yeah," like a switch she was smiling again and flopped back in her seat "Jaune kicked so much butt!"

"We designed his new gear and are still building most of it." Pyrrah picked up "The shield and pistol are just so he can participate in combat class and therefore earn his grades."

"Begin!" Glynda called out as Sage began to stomp towards Jaune in what looked like his fastest speed, sword overhead for a strike.

"He's…really slow." Blake frowned at Sun's teammate as Jaune sidestepped the attack with ease, part of Ruby thought Jaune might have been able to do that even with the cursed armor with how slow Sage was.

"Yeah, Sage is slow as a brick but he hit's like a hammer and can take a blow like an anvil." Sage smirked, "And if all Jaune has is that pistol, better skill or not he won't be able to make a scrat-" a loud bang cut Sun off as Jaune fired a bullet at Sage, the round making a small explosion on impact and actually taking away a chunk of aura.

"That pistol is the DS2-R," Weiss explained smugly even as team SSSN all were left gaping, Jaune continuing to dodge and shoot, the pattern almost boring "the most powerful Atlesian Pistol in the world. General Ironwood himself uses one in combat."

"Ah." Sun sighed along with his team as Jaune took out Sage's aura chunk by chunk, the greatsword user just too slow to hit the more mobile ranged Jaune.

"Winner by aura, Jaune Arc." Professor Goodwitch announced as Sage panted. "Mr. Arc, good work staying mobile, I truly cannot wait to see what you do when your full weapon is completed." The Professor smiled at Jaune, the teacher having somewhat taken Jaune under her wing in the past week, Pyrrah having said it was likely from guilt at not noticing Jaune's situation before. "Mr. Ayana, while you do indeed have an impressive amount of aura and strength for your age you need to improve on your speed and mobility. Being able to take an opponent out in a single swing will do you no good if you cannot hit that opponent in the first place."

"Yes Professor." Sage grunted, pushing himself up with help from the greatsword.

"Class is dismissed." The professor nods, "And Beacon students, remember that the tryouts for the Vytal festival are next week so decide now if you want to enter. If you decide after the cut off date for applicants you will not be considered." With that, everyone stood up to head out, Jaune eagerly rushing over to them.

"Jaune, my man!" Cardin cheered, meeting Jaune's excited rush with a belly bump only for both boys to be picked up in a bear hug by Nora.

"Well done Jaune." Blake smiled at their friend, the entire group having grown closer than before as they worked together to make Jaune's new gear and bonded over planning vengeance upon said blond's father.

"Sun, I thought you said Jaune Arc was Beacon's weakest student." Sage grumbled as the large student approached them.

"Not cool dude." Jaune frowned at the sheepish Faunus, "Not cool. I thought you respected the bro code. You have broken bro code section thirteen-B!"

"The what?" Weiss asked confused even.

"Bro Code section thirteen-B." the boys all answered in unison, "Should a bro be telling a different bro about a further different bro, the first bro shall talk about and treat the third bro with respect whilst talking to the second bro. Any and all shit talking about the third bro is forbidden from happening unless all three bros are present in the same room for the discussion."

"…There's a code." Weiss deadpanned at the group of boys.

"And a manual." Jaune nodded, pulling a large book from his bag with the title 'Bro Code, first edition' on the front.

"Hail to the manual, hail to the code." The boys spoke in unison once again, this time every boy in the room spoke up as one and nodded in deference to Jaune's book.

"The code is the law." Ren told them all seriously.

"…Boys are weird." Ruby decided, the girl in the room all nodding in complete agreement.

"You're just now figuring that out?" Nora teased even as the boys all looked affronted, "But come on! Let's go hit the town and celebrate the continuation of Jaune's winning streak!"

"I've won two fights Nora."

"In a row! That makes it a winning streak!" Nora declares, smugly satisfied by her airtight logic.

"She's not wrong." Blake gives a small amused smile, "And getting out of Beacon for a bit does sound…nice."

"We could hit up a club I know." Yang offered.

"All you can eat pancake house!" Nora cheered.

"Nah, I'm ready to crush Jauney Boy in the arcade." Cardin insisted.

"It would be cool to the see the city when it isn't, you know, on fire." Sun chuckled.

"Sorry guys, not today." Jaune apologized sheepishly even as they all gaped at the proposed celebration being denied, "My sister Saffron is in town with her wife and my nephew and I agreed to meet up with them for lunch."

"Your sister!" Nora gasped, rushing over excitedly, "WE HAVE TO MEET HER! TAKE US WITH YOU! TAKE US WITH YOU! TAKE US WITH YOU! TAKE US WITH YOU!"

"Alright, alright." Jaune laughed, his smile infectious as it had been since they found the fighting style that suited him "I planned to let you guys meet her at some point during her visit so doing it now won't be that big a deal. You guys want to come as well?" Jaune asked, looking at her team and team CRDL, team SSSN not quite as close to team JNPR as they were with team RWBY, although that was in part to Sun's obvious puppy crush on Blake.

"Just give them some space if they need it guys, they just flew in, so they'll probably have jet lag." Jaune warned as they all left to drop off their gear and change out of their uniforms before they got a shuttle to Vale.

-Michael Arc-

Frowning, the Arc patriarch looked around the table at his wife and their assorted daughters. "Where's Saffron?" he asked, having not seen their Eldest daughter at all over the past few days, "I didn't think she would miss the weekly family dinner." While his daughters were all adults, his wife had insisted they all come over once a week for dinner unless they were away on a mission or out of town for some other reason.

"She went to Vale honey." His wife smiled as she filled up the plates, "She should have arrived there by now actually."

"What's she doing in Vale?" Michael asked, trying to act casual even as momentary panic gripped his spine. He had made sure to program their scrolls to route all calls from Beacon to his number, but he hadn't considered one of the girls going to Vale in person to see the useless little shit.

"She said she was going to go visit with Jaune." His wife smiled, "Saffron and Terra said they wanted to go make sure he was settling in alright and meet all his little friends. I'm so proud of him, our boy has so many new friends at Beacon."

"That's…great honey." He forced himself to smile even as a few drops of sweat appeared on his brow. He had to find a way to mitigate damage control and fast if he wanted to keep his balls.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: After giving it some thought I've narrowed pairing to either Blake 'the Bellabooty Belladonna', or Monika Nikos A.K.A Red Monika, Pyrrah's slightly older twin sister. I'm introducing Monika in this chapter that way people can see both her and Blake interact with Jaune over a few chapters and opinions can be made from there.**

 **AN2: Semblance is down to teleportation or toxic aura cloak.**

 **AN3: A picture of Red Monika will be on the Facebook for my stories but with mentioned alterations listed next to the picture.**

True Potential

Chapter 5

-Jaune-

"Saff!" He called out eagerly, seeing the Cotta-Arc family waiting for him by the bullhead station "Terra!"

"Jaune!" they smile and wave, little Adrian reaching out eagerly to be held.

"How's my favorite nephew." He cooed out eagerly, taking the toddler who cheered happily, "Been taking care of your moms for me little man?"

"Oh, of course." Saffron chuckled "We simply wouldn't be able to get by without our little helper."

"Come on guys," he smiled, pulling the two women into a hug, "we can talk over lunch. My friends wanted to meet you and are getting us a table at a pizza place."

"Ooooooh, getting to meet my baby brother's teammates and friends?" Saffron teased, tugging at his cheek "I have so many stories ready for this!"

"And I have a story for you as well." His face turned serious, the women noticing and even Adrian gurgling out in concern, reaching out towards Jaune's face as if to force him to be happy again. "Come on, we can talk over lunch." Still holding Adrian, he led them out, heading to a large pizzeria where Weiss had gone to reserve a large space for them. "Come on, my friends are over here." He nodded to the fifteen students looking over menus at a large table.

"That's…a lot of people." Saffron looked wide eyed at the assortment before double taking at some of them, "Are those Weiss Schnee and Pyrrah Nikos?"

"Oh yeah, you guys live in Argus most of the year don't you?" Jaune remembered Pyrrah mentioning that was where her prep school, Sanctum, was located. "Oi! Ladies, morons, Ren…Weiss!" he yelled over to the group as they approached, Weiss having reserved the entire pizzeria for their lunch.

"Hey!" said heiress protested even as her teammates laughed.

"This is my sister Saffron, her wife Terra, and their little boy Adrian." He introduced, his family waving awkwardly to the large group who waved back eagerly. "And these are my friends. First, and most importantly, are the members of team Juniper. We have my partner Pyrrah, as well as our friends Ren and Nora."

"Hello!" Pyrrah waved happily, her friendly smile in place as always.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Ren gave a small bow.

"Sup!" Nora cheered, bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly even as the rest of his friends gave him looks of mock offense at the comment of not being as important.

"Next, we have team RWBY which has Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao-Long, and Blake Belladonna." He nodded to JNPR's sister team who were arguing over toppings.

"Hi!" little Ruby cheered, rushing over to greet them and to tickle Adrian before rushing back to her seat in a flurry of rose petals.

"It's a pleasure to meet the family of my friend." Weiss gave them a polite and respectful nod of her head.

"So you're vomit boy's family?" Yang smirked, knowingly throwing him under the bus with that stupid nickname which, judging by his sister's expression, would get brought up again later.

"Jaune's told us a lot of good things about you." Blake smiled, surprising him by showing that she hadn't even brought a book to lunch in case someone bored her.

"We have team CRDL, the most feminine team in Beacon." He grinned, catching the thrown napkin dispenser "Led by Cardin and his teammates Russel, Dove, and Sky."

"Hey."

"Yo."

"Sup."

Hi." The four boys then went back to arguing about what pizza their team would be eating.

"And last but least we have team SSSN of Haven academy." He rolled his eyes as the four students gave him the finger, "Oi, behave, there are ladies present…and Weiss."

"I will neuter you Arc." The heiress didn't even look up as she made her threat.

"Made up of Son, Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune. Biggest bunch of losers I've ever met. Also Neptune, if you flirt with them or any of my sisters I will shoot you." Jaune finished with a glare at the playboy who gulped, likely remembering his earlier fight with Sage.

"Shoot him? Jaune you don't have a gun." Saffron looked confused.

"Saff…that's part of what I wanted to talk to you about earlier." He looked at his sister seriously, "Do you remember what happened the day I left for Beacon?"

"Yeah, Dad gave you some armor and the family sword, mom made a giant breakfast, and we all teased you about whether or not you'd get a girlfriend." Saff listed, the last part with a playful smirk even if she knew that this was a serious matter.

"And do you know what dad's semblance is?" he pressed, stoically ignoring the memory of that bout of teasing. When Saffron shook her head he continued, "Dad can strengthen or weaken himself or others. He imbued my armor and the sword with that. Each piece made me slower, weaker, dumber. He did that, knowing what this school was, how dangerous it was. Professor Goodwitch figured it out when I had to use someone else's weapon for a spar. Professor Ozpin confronted dad about it, but he gave an excuse that it was an accident and that he _meant_ to make me stronger with it."

"…What?" Saff collapsed into a chair, Terra doing the same as Adrian cried out, not understanding why his moms weren't happy but knowing that he didn't like it.

"We don't know if he was trying to kill me, or just trying to make me drop out, but the point is that was what he did." Jaune handed the squirming Adrian over to Saffron who clutched the little boy close, "Luckily for me, he failed. He wanted me weak but I'm stronger than he ever expected, than he ever dreamed." Jaune let out his aura as it pulsed angrily, burning like white fire as he clenched his fist, I've tried calling you to warn everyone else but every time I called, or a professor called, it went straight to Dad's scrolls. He wanted to hide what he did to me." His sister was looking wide eyed at the sheer amount of aura he was letting off, his friends, apart from team SSSN, weren't shocked as they had seen the raw power of his soul. "He's a threat to me, a threat to my friends, and a threat to our family." His voice echoed a bit, "And nobody, threatens my family and gets away with it."

-Michael Arc-

Forcing a smile on his face, Michael packed more of his possessions into a bag, sword on his back. "What sort of mission is this honey?" his wife asked from the doorway, frowning as he put more and more necessities into the pack, "I thought you didn't have any missions scheduled for this month?"

"Last minute love." He gave her a fake apologetic smile, "A team lost their member and need my skillset for this. It should only take a few weeks at most and then I'll be right back here."

"Alright." His wife frowned but gave him a small nod, pecking his lips as she helped him pack. Giving his wife a smile, he shouldered his bag and walked out. He knew when Saffron came back she'd tell the others of Jaune's story. He had made sure to leave journals and notes to make it look like he had been trying to set the armor to make the brat stronger and got rid of the damn middle finger statue. Hopefully a few weeks out in the woods hunting some Grimm would let him blow off steam and let the Arc women calm down. If they found his notes they should hopefully have doubt he could build on when he got back.

Getting to a bullhead he paid to get brought out into a patch of the wilds, "Time to have some fun." Michael grinned, looking at his small town as the Bullhead took to the sky.

-Jaune-

"Alright guys, you all get some rest." Jaune waved to Saffron and Terra, little Adrian asleep in their arms. After the, admittedly large, bomb he had dropped them the lunch had turned to more pleasant avenues of conversation. Thanks, in large part, to Nora and Ruby asking for embarrassing stories about him as a kid and Yang offering some from his time at Beacon. Luckily for him, he could give as good as he got. Right now he was walking around town with his team, the rest of the group having split up to do their own thing.

"So what now?" Nora asked, happily rubbing her full stomach, having entered, and won, a pizza eating contest with teams CRDL and SSSN.

"I don't know." Pyrrah shrugged, "Maybe we could all catch a movie?"

"Pyrrah?" a voice he didn't recognize asked from behind as he saw his partner pale, the four of them turning to see another redhead who looked similar to Pyrrah running towards them. "Pyrrah!" the new redhead cheered and lunged at his Partner in a hug, "How's my little sister!"

"You are older than me by two minutes!" Pyrrah shouted, showing a lot more emotion than he had seen from her outside of the situation with his father.

"Older is older!" the other redhead sang happily, "Now come on, introduce me to your team already sis!"

Sighing, Pyrrah turned to face them, gesturing to the grinned stranger, "Guys, this is my Monika, my fraternal twin. She chose to study at Haven while I picked Beacon. Monika this is Jaune, Ren, and Nora." She pointed to each of them in turn.

"She's told me so much about you guys." Monika waved cheerfully before getting a wicked grin, "And I've been looking forward to meeting you all. Now, who wants stories about six-year-old Pyrrah?"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Alright, I feel this Author's Note needs to happen. Last chapter I said that the two final choices I had for the pairing were Blake or Monika, that I was introducing Monika in that chapter so that way people could see her, and Blake interact with Jaune over a few chapters and base opinions from there. A lot of you started voting and, in some cases, condemning for one of the options. I said I was introducing Monika and giving a few chapters to let everyone see the two girls interact with Jaune. That meant actually see how things go before voting. For those voting now you're either voting for the girl's design being with Jaune, for concept with Jaune, or for how** _ **you**_ **picture the pairing going instead of how they would actually interact. I don't mind you guys having a preference. By all means, have a preference at any point and even say in a review which one you're leaning to as I'd love opinions and ideas. Just please don't start voting or bashing other pairing options.**

 **Secondly, there were some people who were very upset at Monika being there for a couple reasons. One person complained about her being a pairing option as [it seems kinda cruel to have him date Pyrrha's sister that's like rubbing salt in the wound and say "hey Pyrrha sorry but I'm not interested in you so instead I'm going to date your sister bye"]. Another person said that Monika was like Saffron so therefore if Jaune dated her then he had incestuous urges, which I don't get how they pulled that unless you count siblings teasing each other which to me is kind of a universal thing. A third person commented that Pyrrah couldn't have felt isolated and alone with a sibling, furthermore with a twin. I want to address these three points, so nobody gets the wrong idea.**

 **For the part of it being cruel to have Jaune date Pyrrah sister when Pyrrah likes him. How is that any worse than the canon show having Jaune be clearly smitten with Weiss who turns him down bluntly and brutally every time he asks her out and then openly swoons at someone else using the exact same pickup line? This kind of stuff happens in real life. Pyrrah fell for Jaune really quickly and, if you think about it, she fell for the fact he didn't know who he was given how she sought him out as a partner fervently for just that reason. So no, it's not cruel. Saying if a character has a crush on a character in canon that anyone connected to them being paired with the target of said crush instead is cruel is kind of a weak argument.**

 **To the Saffron incest thing…how. How do you get that from what happened? People tease their siblings. OLDER SIBLINGS ESPECIALLY! Having it where he and his sister teased and bicker, and then seeing another pair of siblings tease and bicker, doesn't make having a crush on either of those siblings a sign of incestuous urges. Do you think he can't like Ruby or Yang because they tease each other?**

 **Finally, Pyrrah can still feel isolated and alone even with a sibling. I** _ **did**_ **think about this in advance. I'm not explaining the why in the AN, that gets explained in the story over the next couple chapters. But even then, it doesn't fit perfectly. I have an older sibling and friends my own age, but I still often felt isolated and alone as a kid. I had friends who had siblings close to their age who felt isolated and alone at times.**

 **I apologize for the size of the massive AN, but I felt these things needed to be addressed.**

True Potential

Chapter 6

-Jaune-

"So then, I shit you not, little six year old Pyrrah looks at our Uncle and screams, 'No!', using her semblance, which she had for a few months, to make metal boots and gloves as she stuck herself to the ceiling, refusing to come down to eat her vegetables as the poor man was trying to get her down at the same time as get me to stop running around the kitchen." Monika laughs out, having joined team JNPR over by the movie theatre and was sharing stories of a younger Pyrrah. "All the while he kept swearing up and down he was never babysitting us ever again. Then Pyrrah just looked at him with some big pouty eyes and asked if that meant he didn't want to spend time with her anymore." Monika snorted and took a sip of her soda as Pyrrah groaned into her hands "Uncle Mike caved in about half a second."

"I hate you." Pyrrah groaned, not taking her face out of her hands but the parts he could see were bright cherry red. Jaune might have felt more sympathy for her if she hadn't laughed hard enough to snort soda out her nose at stories Saffron provided about him.

"Alright, alright." Monika laughed and grabbed a nacho from her tray "Why don't you tell me about your team Pyr."

"Well you already know who's who," Pyrrah forced her blush down "I sent you the team photo, but this is Nora, Ren, and Jaune."

"Yeah but I want to hear stories about the four of you as a team." Monika shook her head and Jaune thought she looked a little sad before she hid it behind a grin "Granted there's no way you guys are as cool as _my_ team, but you can try I suppose."

"Hey!" Nora narrows her eyes at Monika, "Them's fightin words! Ren!" she grabbed the reserved martial artist "We must avenge the honor of team Juniper!"

"Nora," Ren sighed "we aren't-"

"Vengeance!" Pyrrah exclaimed, Nora beaming with joy and glomping Pyrrah happily.

"My baby sister thinks she's scary. It's so cute!" Monika pinched Pyrrah's cheek as Jaune's partner growled. Jaune was adapting to seeing Pyrrah lose her usual self-control.

Before anyone can say anything a loud buzzing was heard from Ren's scroll. "I'm sorry but I have to go." Ren apologized as he checked the message, "The local greenhouse just got in some herbs I ordered, and I need to go pick them up." His sole male teammate did look apologetic on the matter, "We can all go see a team movie another time. I'll see you all back at Beacon."

"Coming Ren." Nora smiled, skipping happily over to her partner without being prompted, "By Jaune, by Pyrrah, by not Pyrrah! You guys have fun!"

"By Nora." He and Pyrrah responded in tandem, more than used to their teammate's quirks.

"So, you two still up for a movie?" he asked the sisters, able to see something was off between them and he couldn't quash the urge to but in and try to fix it…he blamed Ruby.

"I have time to kill." Monika grinned, her eyes flitting towards Pyrrah for a half second.

"That is what we came for." Pyrrah's tone was more neutral but she wasn't saying no so that was something at least.

"Cool, any preference?" he asked, getting up "I'll get the tickets if you guys get the snacks."

"Action." the twins say in tandem, glancing at each other before getting up and heading to concessions.

Nodding, he went and bought three tickets for the action movie that looked the most entertaining, returning to find the sisters bickering over what candy to get.

"Skittles!" Pyrrah insisted, glaring at her sister, hands on hips as a nervous employee stood by the candy case.

"M&M's!" Monika protested, just as stubbornly. Meanwhile a couple employees were watching the show and checking out the two girls in question. Glaring at the two civilians till they stopped ogling his partner and her sister, he approached the girls.

"Having trouble?" he asked, raising an eyebrow even as an employee puts a large tub of popcorn and three sodas on the counter.

"Goldilocks, back me up here." Monika turned to him, smacking the counter, "Tell my poor misguided sister that the correct answer for what candy to pick are M&M's because chocolate is _always_ right!"

"Skittles, you skimpy heathen, provide a variety of flavor your pathetic excuse for a candy lacks!" Pyrrah glared, sniffing haughtily at her sister.

"M&M's are savory!"

"Skittles are sweeter!"

"Chocolate!"

"Fruit!"

"Alright!" he snapped, getting between them, "Girls, girls, you're both pretty." He snarked, not noticing both redheads blush even if the employees did. "Stop arguing, I'll get you each a pack of the candy, just pick something else for us to share."

"Sour patch kids." Monika ordered instantly.

"Jelly Beans." Pyrrah pointed to the bag.

Jaune threw his head back and groaned, as the sisters glared at each other. "A pack of each of the candies they want." He sighed, pulling out lien and practically hearing his wallet crying at the loss of money. He wanted to find out what was going on between the two sisters and it would help if they were happy. He just had to be sure not to ask them to pick anything else again.

-Cardin-

"Cardin, isn't this a…surprise." Cardin's grandfather sat across from him. The Winchester family were one of the most wealthy and influential families in the Vale council, having a firm grip on the shipping industry in the Kingdom with both import and export contracts with the other three major nations. Menagerie refused to trade with them which was part of why his family had a problem with the Faunus.

"I want your help grandfather." He was doing his best to make sure his tone was respectful. His grandfather was the power in the family and honestly scared the piss out of him.

"My help?" his grandfather gave a dry snort, leaning back in his chair with steepled fingers "If I remember correctly you're as tough as can be. That you don't need anyone's help."

"When I started Beacon I was a dumbass." Cardin answered honestly, refusing to rise to the bait of his grandfather's raised eyebrow "I ignored your lessons and thought if I was bigger and stronger than everyone then I didn't need to listen to anyone."

"What changed?" his grandfather was now paying far more attention.

"Someone I pushed around and blackmailed saved my life." He handed over a report about his actions, refusing to lie or try to hide them. "I led my team into bullying some of the Faunus students and the weakest member of the year. I found out a secret of his and used it to extort him. He stood up to me and saved my life when my actions got us face to face with an Ursa Major. He stood up for his team and defended me from it. He's since become a good friend."

"And you want me to make your mistake go away." His grandfather frowned in disappointment, that honestly hurt more than any anger.

"No." Cardin shook his head, "I already went to report to Headmaster Ozpin what I did, and he left it up to the person I pushed around to decide my fate. Jaune decided I could have a second chance. And even if you could I don't want it to go away. I fucked up, I made my mistake, I'm going to live with it."

"Then why do you want my help?" thankfully his grandfather was back to being neutrally curious.

"Because Jaune got screwed over far worse than what I did." Cardin growled out, fist clenched till his knuckles cracked. "I told you he was the weakest in my year? His dad has a semblance that can make someone stronger or weaker and imbued every piece of Jaune's armor and weaponry to make Jaune slower, dumber, _weaker_." Cardin spat out the last word "Without those on he beat me easily with a weapon he had never touched before. Jaune's got a terrifying amount of Aura and talent."

"Why would he do that?" his grandfather frowned, the Winchesters taking pride in the fact that while they may be assholes to many they never screwed over one of their own.

"He married into Jaune's family and because of their charter, Jaune would become head of the family if he was eighteen and a huntsman. Jaune's old man wanted to keep control of the family and did everything to keep Jaune from being able to become a huntsman." Cardin explained, sliding the report closer to his grandfather, all of what he had said and more written down in it.

"A family charter?" his grandfather picked up the report with a raised eyebrow, "Rare for a family to make one of those in this day and age."

"He's an Arc." Cardin's words made his grandfather freeze, "My friend is Jaune…Miles…Arc. Heir and rightful head of the Arc clan."

"Why Cardin," his grandfather's grin was "I believe we have a great deal to talk about. But I can assure you, I find what happened to your friend _very_ interesting."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: The next update cycle is RWBY. After the last posting I put up the Poll but have since taken it down and reuploaded it as I forgot to put in an idea I really wanted to see the opinion on. If you haven't gone back to vote again since it was put back up, it would be a good idea to do so now.**

 **AN2: Also, seriously? I put an AN last time and people are still ignoring it. 'Having a sister means Pyrrah can't feel isolated'. Please actually READ before you put a comment like that.**

 **AN3: I don't think the timeline for the great war is accurate. Jaune mentions that his great-great-grandfather fought in it, but the war was later said to have been eighty years ago. At the same time technology went from basic sword and shield to a mechashifting sniper scythe in that short of a time frame? I'm changing timeline to the war having been closer to two-hundred years ago and the council was formed after Ozpin (who is confirmed as the Warrior King of Vale) decided to stop being king and didn't pick an heir. The Vytal festival is eighty years old to try and help keep peace and prevent rising tensions.**

 **AN4: This chapter is in part to show Jaune interacting with Blake. Next chapter will include a part of Jaune with Monika. While I would love your opinion on Jaune's interactions with Blake here, please hold off on saying who you want Jaune with fully until you've seen both parts.**

True Potential

Chapter 7

-Jaune-

Groaning, Jaune dropped his pencil on the table and stretched out his hands. "There, that's everything I know from the family library." Jaune winced, rubbing his sore palms as Blake took the sheets of paper. Oobleck had made assigned pairs for a history report and Jaune was paired with Blake, their subject being the Warrior King of Vale.

"I've never even seen some of this." Blake looked shocked as she leafed through the pages, "I've never seen _most_ of this! Where did you family get all this information?"

Letting out a small click of his tongue, nodding as he bit his lip, Jaune looked over at Blake "The Warrior King of Vale didn't start out _as_ a King. Originally, he was a simple soldier, having been part of the village guard before joining the war effort. Most of his family hunted Grimm or enemies of the kingdom but he was still rather young and was kept around the homestead until the war. He grew stronger and more skilled, gaining renown and, after the previous Vale King died along with his heir, the Warrior King rallied the troops and was named the leader. After the war, he was officially coronated and did his best to help rebuild Vale. Still, he was a fighter, not a monarch, and the same could be said for his family. So, when he got old and grey, he formed the council of Vale, ending the monarchy and letting his family go back to being warriors."

"I heard he just didn't have an heir fit for rule." Blake frowned, flipping through one of the many biographies and histories they had pulled from the library, the books sprawled out of the study room they had booked.

"Didn't have an heir who _wanted_ to rule." Jaune snorted, "Most people didn't know the family name the Warrior King was born with. His name was Ozmium, the soldiers he led dubbed him Ozmium Dragun, Ozmium the Dragon. What most, if any, don't know is that he was born Ozmium Arc." Blake's jaw all but hit the table at _that_ little revelation.

"You're kidding." Blake gaped, "You HAVE to be kidding!"

"Nope." Jaune smirked, "His private journals are actually in the family library. I wrote down everything I can remember but if you want we could go back with Saff and Tera for the coming three-day weekend to use the library. I could tell the rest of the family in person just what that bastard pulled, and we could finish whatever's left of our report."

"Already introducing me to your mother?" Blake made a mock gasp, smirking "My, my, you _are_ bold. Should I arrange a time to introduce you to my dad?"

"Ass." Jaune grumbled, unable to keep a smirk from his lips as he gave Blake a playful shove.

"It's one of my better features, I know." Blake laughed, the silent sullen girl who had entered Beacon academy having been changed by having friends around who helped her up and supported her.

"I would comment but I know that would just ask for an ass kicking." Jaune laughed, "If not from you than your partner who likes to punch first and ask questions…does she ask questions?"

"She asks who took her shampoo, where the bathroom is, and when does the bar close." Blake laughed, dividing up the books they'd pulled into two piles. "I'll read the notes you gave me today and we can work on our paper before that weekend trip."

"You're sounding rather eager." Jaune teased, picking up the books from the rejected pile "Is it the chance of getting to see all those rare books or is it so you can spend a weekend with yours truly?"

"Hmmmmm, I don't know." Blake stretched, picking up the books they planned to use as well as the notes he had just spent an hour remembering and writing out. "You know how much I love my books."

"Ninja's of love right?" he smirked as the cat Faunus let out a startled 'eep'. "You know, the new book comes out in a few months."

"You…read Ninja's of Love?" Blake looked more shocked by that than him being the descendant of the Warrior King of Vale.

"Read it? I helped edit the damn things." Despite himself, a blush crept up his neck as he remembered helping edit certain passages of the books "My second oldest sister, Joan, wrote them. I help act as a second set of eyes to see what she might miss."

"Early copies of the series, what'll it take?" Blake demanded, not even wasting a second as they returned the books they didn't plan to use, checked out the ones they did, and started walking towards their dorms.

"Hmmmm, I don't know." He grinned, neither of them too worried about the little back and forth, and both knowing that if he was lying that the ass kicking that team RWBY would dish out would make the Vytal festival tournament look like a game of tag.

"Come on Jaune." Blake grumbled, "Just tell me what it'll take."

"Relax Blake." Jaune laughed, giving her another playful bump "You're my friend. I'll have the early copies sent to you as soon as I can." He promised, giving Blake one last smile as he diverged to head to his dorm room, his friend left rooted to the ground in shock.

-Uther Winchester-

Swirling his glass of brandy, Uther looked out over his family docks. His family were rich, and they were powerful. Nowhere near the Schnee fortune admittedly but if what his grandson had told him was true then that fortune might soon be brought to bear upon the situation as well.

"Michael Arc." Uther gave a derisive snort, "I warned old Arthur that Michael would screw over his girl."

"Mr. Winchester," looking up, he saw his secretary enter the office, "the conference call you requested is ready."

"Thank you Amy," he nodded to her, "head on home. I'll lock up the office when I'm done."

"Have a good evening sir." His secretary nodded, giving him a happy smile as she walked out. Heading into his conference room, Uther sat in his chair, projectors on the ceiling flaring to life as three other holographic figures appeared in other chairs at the table.

"Uther, what's this about?" Nicholas Schnee asked, the man making the call from the villa he had retired to, the previous head of the Schnee Dust Company coughing roughly as a nurse wiped his brow.

"I would like to know this as well." Mari Bei-Fong, current head of the Bei-Fong family of Mistral asked. Roland, of the Crimson Raiders of Vacuo, just gave a grunt.

"Oh trust me, you'll all be glad I called." Uther sipped his brandy, "It has to do with the Arc clan."

"The Arcs?" Nicholas frowned, "I haven't heard anything of them since old Arthur passed. What on earth would they have done to make you call us with how late it is in Vale?"

"Michael Arc," Uther smirk soured with distaste at the name "I'm sure you all heard how he married into that family, much like how Jacques married dear Willow."

"Don't mentioned that bastard to me." Nicholas growled, coughing harshly as the man's temper flared at the bastard son in law who had destroyed everything Nicholas had worked to build.

"You know he detests that name." Roland grunted, "And what does it have to do with the Arcs?"

"Michael Arc tried to murder his son, the actual successor to the Arc family." The room went dead silent at that, "My grandson, Cardin, brought the information to me after his group of friends found it out. Jaune Arc is one of the ringleaders of this little group which includes Weiss Schnee, my grandson, Pyrrah Nikos, the two heirs of team STRQ, and many other members of the top huntsmen of their year."

"The Arc charter would make the kid the family head in the next four years anyway." Mari frowned, "I agree that what he did was despicable but even if it can't be proved, Michael will lose what little power he has then anyway. Why bring this to us now? What's so important?"

"Because of the…opportunity available to us." Uther gave a smirk like a shark that smelt blood upon the water. "I own a seat on the council of Vale, as does Ozpin, but we can still get nothing done as we don't have enough pull. I know the same situation is true for _all_ of you. What I'm proposing is this. We help the kids deal with Michael, it will make them trust us. We can guide them, shape them into something far more useful than our families are now. We are the first example since our families were founded that all four heads, or who should be head," he nodded to Nicholas who had been conned by Jacques "have been at least neutral with each other. My heir is friends with the heiress of the Schnees, of the Arcs, the Nikos family is likely to get more prestige. They've mentioned a Faunus girl named Belladonna who I would bet my right hand is Ghira's lost daughter."

"You're talking about overthrowing the councils." Roland sat forward, suddenly far more interested.

"The councils run remnant, they even interfere with the Academies which are the real military power of all the kingdoms. If we make these kids into a strong alliance, help them grow into a group of world powers that aren't tearing at each other's throats? Then we might just make something strong enough to put the councils in their place, or in the garbage, either will do."

"And let us deal with any rivals or enemies." Mari snorted but seemed to be considering the idea.

"Why of course my dear." Uther laughed, his feral smirk deepening as he began planning with the rest of the most powerful families of the four kingdoms.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Some people thought last chapter that I meant team RWBY would kick Jaune's ass over early release copies of a book. That wasn't what I meant. I meant they would kick his ass if he lied to Blake about something she was passionate about for a joke as that would be mean.**

 **AN2: The base design for Monika is on the Facebook page for my stories. The change for the outfit is that she is wearing actual pants and has a top that isn't as bare.**

True Potential

Chapter 8

-Jaune-

"Keep both eyes open there goldilocks." Monika laughed as she leaned against the wall of their cubicle at the firing range, his partner's sister having invited him out to go shooting since classes had let out early today. "Keeping one eye closed when you shoot is just a dumb movie thing. Here, copy me." Setting down her soda, Monika pulled out one of her pistols and took a stance as she aimed at the target on the far end, "See? Both eyes open. Given that shield of yours and the other weapon you showed me the design for I doubt you'll be holding that pistol with both hands so I would suggest getting used to firing one handed. No point adapting to a stance you're never going to use."

"Like this?" Jaune asked, doing his best to copy what Monika was suggesting.

"Better, but you're still not getting it." Monika shook her head, giving him a bemused smirk "If you get used to shooting just one way then you're going to have trouble when you actually need that thing against a Grimm trying to bite that pretty face off."

"And we can't have that." Jaune snorted but did his best to change to how he'd actually hold the pistol if he also had his shield "I'm supposed to be the pretty one on the team. If I lose the money maker who knows what I'll do."

"I'm sure you'll manage." Monika smirked, "Although maybe it'd help you. You know what they say, chicks dig scars and all that."

"I already have a couple scars if that helps." He quipped, smirked at her over his shoulder.

"You have scars?" Monika gasped in a faux breathy voice before pretending to swoon, "Oh be still my beating heart."

"Ha, ha." Jaune rolled his eyes and fired but the shot went wide, "Brothers damnit. What am I doing wrong?"

"Hold on, you big baby." Monika snorted before getting behind him, pressing up as she adjusted his stance and moved his arm, "Hold your arm out like this, both eyes open, you don't want to be too rigid or too loose, and please do pay more attention to your gun than my 'guns', you need all your brain in your head." Blushing bright cherry red, Jaune aimed and found his shots were at least doing somewhat better with that advice.

"Thanks Monika." He gave a grateful nod to the bombastic redhead, "So, why'd you ask me to come shooting with you anyway?"

"Because I have questions and I feel that you likely need, and definitely deserve, a few answers." The laughing easy going 'Red' Monika Nikos he had spent all morning with vanished as he stared into the eyes of someone far with a serious attitude and far more steel than sass.

"I'm going to need more to go on than that." Jaune frowned, straightening to his full height as he stared down at Monika, recognizing that this conversation wouldn't involve teasing or wordplay.

"I have questions about Pyrrah and how she's been at Beacon, how it's changed her, how this team has changed her." Monika elaborated, "But first, you should know why I want…why I _need_ to know." Unloading her gun and holstering it at her hip, Monika gestured for him to follow her away from the other shooters to give them more privacy. "Jaune, how much do you know of Pyrrah's life growing up?"

"I know she said she entered tournaments from a young age," Jaune frowned, rubbing his head as he wondered where this was going "that she was the top student at Sanctum and had become a tournament champion several times. Why?"

"Pyrrah and I are twins, we were born together and for the first few years we were inseparable. But then we found our semblances. Mine is the ability to store items bellow a certain size in a small pocket space. Useful, but not overpowered to any extreme. Pyrrah though? Polarity? In a world where almost every weapon has something metal on it that semblance was a gold mine. Especially to our parents." He could feel the bitter tone in Monika's words and didn't like where he thought this might be going.

"What did they do?" Jaune asked concerned.

"They decided to push Pyrrah. They knew huntresses and tournament champions made big money, especially if they got endorsement deals. At first Pyrrah didn't mind, she was excited to get so much attention, at being the pride of our parent's eye. I was happy for her too at first but…" Monika seemed to slump, almost shrinking as her outgoing presence felt diminished.

"Did they…" Jaune trailed off, no longer disbelieving on the cruel things a parent might do to their child after what he went through.

"They never _abused_ me, not really." Monika tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I was given a room, I had food, and I had clothes. But other than that I felt like an afterthought. My parents put Pyrrah first, _always_. We didn't have a lot of money, so all the money went to _her_ training, not mine. When our birthday came around, almost everything was for _Pyrrah_ , not me." Along with the pain of those memories, Jaune was positive he heard guilt in her voice, "I was a little kid and I was resentful. I knew I couldn't do anything to my parents, assuming they'd even bother to pay attention, so I started pushing Pyrrah away instead and acting out. Pyrrah was supposed to be the sweet, polite, socially acceptable one so I became loud, brash, and gave no fucks about etiquette. By the time I grew the hell up and realized it wasn't Pyrrah's fault, around the time I think she was becoming sick of it all, it was a little late. She stopped trusting me after me pushing her away for so many years and I've spent the last couple trying to build something with her again. I had hoped if she went to Haven with me we could have been on the same team and try to mend things without our parents around, but she didn't tell anyone she was going to Beacon until she got the acceptance letter and had started packing."

"I'm so sorry." Jaune frowned, reflexively taking Monika's hand to give it a squeeze, seeing the bitter memories and guilt, seeing what they were doing to the huntress "But…why tell me that much?" it all sounded rather personal to him.

"Don't be, wasn't your fault. You weren't a shitty parent or the brat who pushed her sister away." Monika tried to brush it off, but she seemed to sit a little straighter at least before she got a mischievous smirk paired with a bright gleam in her eyes, "And maybe I just think you're cute."

"Oi!" he laughed, glad the dark mood was gone, "I am note cute damnit! I am tough and manly! But to answer your question Pyrrah is…very reserved." Jaune decided after a moment, "But she's come out of her shell a lot since starting here." He gave a wry snort, "Or more specifically Nora grabbed her and drug her out of her shell kicking and screaming. With that, he began telling Monika more about her sister, doing his best to keep his Partner's privacy while still helping his newest friend, all the while swearing to do what he could to help the two siblings mend their relationship.

 **AN: So yeah, that's the chapter showing more on Monika. To help sum up the differences between the options, if I pair Jaune with Blake "Bellabooty" Belladonna, then Monika's main story part will be Jaune fixing her and Pyrrah's relationship and Jaune's relationship with Blake will be very flirty and banter like. If I pair him with "Red" Monika Nikos, then the relationship will have banter, yes, but also deal with the Drama of Monika trying to repair her relationship with Pyrrah while also having to deal with Pyrrah being insanely jealous of Monika and so on and so forth. Both options will have some drama, but the type will change. Blake will have the drama of Ilia and Adam while Monika will have the angst of the Pyrrah situation. The story is clearly already adding political drama (something I legitimately hadn't planned when this mess started but the story decided it want' to be that) so the romance drama is up for debate. I haven't decided yet and I'm not sure when I will but now I'm willing to start listen to people's opinions for the pairing and just let me know what you think of each girl as the story continues.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Hey everyone, quick note that I forgot to mention before. Jaune's shield isn't a Kite shield, it's a heater shield, got the two mixed up. I'll be going back later to edit the chapter where I made the mistake.**

 **AN2: And the pairing has been decided. I'm going with Blake for reasons relating to the plot of the story. You all would have noticed by now that this story is taking some political twists and turns (honestly not what I expected to do when I started it) and I feel the drama from Knightshade would work best with that. If Jaune dates Blake then there's political drama with menagerie and the white fang, maybe even Atlas government if they have a problem with Blake's past. Monika would be more focused on the drama of trying to have a relationship with Monika while saving her relationship with Pyrrah. I think that would be a great story, but it wouldn't mesh as well with the political situation the story is leaning towards. So I do still like Monika as a character, she'll still be here in the story, but she won't be pairing. ALSO, I won't accept any ship bashing. Ship bashing is unneeded and unwelcome. If you have an opinion then give constructive criticism, don't just bray and yell like an irritated jackass.**

 **AN3: Also Monika will still get a pairing. I've decided Cardin needs some love too**

 **AN4: Last note, this chapter is so long because I added in a fun extra bit. You all loved the Bro code bit from before, so I decided to actually add more for you all.**

True Potential

Chapter 9

-Jaune-

"Here we are, Ansel." Jaune grinned as he helped Sapphire and Terra down from the Bullhead, Blake holding little Adrian who had decided she was friend shaped.

"It looks nice here." Blake looks around as she hands Adrian back to his mothers, "I've never been out here before."

"Yeah, the Arc family have lived here for generations." Jaune grinned proudly as he took in a deep breath of the familiar air, a brief frown flittering across his face, "Back when Grandpa was in charge, this place was full of huntsmen and huntresses. Those he worked with, those he befriended. It was a popular hub for those in our profession. Gramps even talked about opening a prep school here at some point according to Mom. But…then he passed away and my sperm donor is such a bastard that a lot of those huntsmen and huntresses have left one by one over the years."

"Luckily, you'll be taking over soon enough." Blake bumped his shoulder with a grin, "And I'm sure your team will come here too, not to mention Ruby won't let you get away that easily."

"Grandpa would be proud of you Jaune." Saffron smiled at him, "Grandpa Arthur loved us all, but I remember him always going on about how strong you were going to be, how you would be the greatest Arc warrior yet."

"Thanks Saff." Jaune smiled before laughing, "Come on, enough groaning around here. We should get back home."

"Right, we need to introduce your girlfriend here to your mom." Terra smirked while Adrian giggled happily.

"Tera!" Jaune and Blake both flushed at that while his sister and sister-in-law just started down the road merrily, leaving Jaune and Blake to hurry to catch back up.

"So, which house is yours?" Blake looked around at the different buildings in the village. Some were clearly stores, inns, or restaurants but others were clearly houses.

"The big one up there." Saffron points to where a large manor could be seen in the distance, "When you come from a family of huntsmen known for having a lot of kids, you tend to need a lot of space for them."

"Yeah." Blake was staring wide eyed at the absolutely massive house, "I…that makes sense."

"Hey Billie!" Saffron waved to a man loading up a truck outside the general goods store, "Think you can give us a life back home!"

"Hey Saff, Tera!" the man that Jaune now recognized as an old classmate of his sister, "And is that little Jaune? You grew up, didn't ya? Sure, you lot just hop on in." thanks to the lucky situation of running into someone with a car, they got back home much faster, waving goodbye to their escort as they walked over to the door.

"Mom, we're home!" Saffron yelled as they walked in, Adrian shouting out his baby babble, wanting to say hi to his Grandma too.

"I'm in the kitchen!" the voice of Sarah Arc called back happily.

"Well we brought Jaune back with us!" Saffron smirked dangerously as Jaune's eyes widened, knowing what was coming next "And he brought a girl!" there was the sound of something large being dropped in several other rooms.

"Oh no." Jaune groaned while Blake started looking nervous. Blonde women started crawling out of the woodworks, all of them studying Blake intently.

"Move, move girls, out of my way." Sarah Arc commanded her daughters as she approached, staring down imperiously at Jaune and Blake, "Well young man, are you going to introduce this young lady?"

"O-oh, right, sorry. Mom, everyone, this is Blake Belladonna. She's one of my best friends over at Beacon Academy, her team is in the dorm across the hall from mine. Blake, this is my Mom Sarah Arc, and the rest of my sisters Joan, Daisy, Margaret, Brittney, Kelly, and Annette." Jaune pointed out each person as he named them, going from oldest sibling to youngest after he introduced his mom.

"Hello, it's really nice to meet you all." Blake stepped forward and smiled but Jaune could tell it was her public speaking face, his feline friend more than a little overwhelmed by the unexpected tidal wave of Blondes.

"Well it's wonderful to have you hear dear." Sarah Arc smiled warmly, "Especially as a certain someone hasn't been calling home recently," she sent him an annoyed look "maybe through you I can find out what's going on."

"Mom, that's part of why I came here." Jaune's good mood vanished as he looked at his mother seriously, "I did try calling. But it looks like the man you married rerouted the calls to his scroll. Likely because my headmaster confronted him about his attempt to kill me."

"JAUNE MILES ARC!" his mother was gaping at his accusation, "What on Remnant are you?"

"He used his semblance on the armor he gave me and on Grandpa's sword." Jaune scowled darkly, "Each piece made me weaker, dumber. He wanted me to either get killed or drop out of the academy so I couldn't take the official headship of the Arc house. You can ask Professor Ozpin or Professor Goodwitch if you want to hear it from them, they're ready for my call just in case. Saffron and Tera already spoke to them as well and felt the effects of the armor."

"It's true mom." Saffron spoke up, "Just touching that thing, I could feel what it did since I knew what to look for." Sarah Arc collapsed against a chair, her hand covering her mouth in shock, eyes wide with horror.

"He…Michael left for a Huntsman mission; said he would be gone for a couple weeks." His mom said softly, "He left just a couple days ago."

"Probably because he knew Terra and Saff would be coming back to tell everyone what he did." Jaune growled, flinching for a moment when he felt Blake's hand on his shoulder before he let out a breath, the tension leaving him. He was mad at his sperm donor, not at his mom or sisters. "But I also came because I wanted to see you all, plus Blake and I needed to use the family library for a report we're doing on Ozmium."

"I…yes." Sarah Arc got up and started shuffling away, "I…you all order some dinner. I…I need to think right now." Jaune sighed sadly as he watched his mother go. He hated to hurt her, but she needed to know the truth and she was a smart woman. She'd believe him, he was sure of it.

"Alright, I'll order the food." Terra took Adrian from Saffron, "Saff, I think your mom could use you there right now."

"In the meantime, we can meet your girlfriend Jaune." Joan came over and wrapped her arms around him and Blake, his sisters were clearly upset as well but trying to put on a strong front and act like everything was normal. He wasn't sure if it was for him, for mom, or themselves but he appreciated it.

"Um…Joan right?" Blake tapped her fingers together nervously, "I…well Jaune mentioned you're a writer and I, um."

"Wait…you're a fan?" Joan looked surprised before laughing, "This is amazing! Jaune, you're keeping her."

"Joan!"

-Ruby-

"Bravo six, this is Red Leader, do you copy?" Ruby whispered into her scroll as she snuck through the team JNPR dorm.

"This is Bravo Six, the coast is still clear." Yang's voice came through the scroll, "Frostbite, is the drop point secure?"

"I am not calling you a code name Yang." Weiss' exasperated voice sighed "But yes, our room is still empty, why wouldn't it be?" a quick text confirmed that Pyrrah and Nora were still keeping Ren out and distracted. Finding Jaune's bag, Ruby grabbed her prize and hurried back to her dorm, Yang following her while Pyrrah and Nora returned a few moments later.

"Finally!" Yang grinned as they looked down at Jaune's manual for the 'Bro Code', "I've been wondering what was in this thing since he showed it off!" Opening the book, they saw each rule had its own dedicated page.

1: Player one belongs to whoever owns the console

2: If a Bro dies while lifting, put more weight on the bar, _then_ call 911

3: Shotgun is a responsibility, not a privilege. If you are sitting up front, you're not a passenger, you're the copilot

4: Don't throw a friend under the buss to impress someone. _EVER_

5: When offered a beer, accept it even if it's not 'your brand'. Your favorite brand of beer is 'free', your second favorite is 'cold'

6: If a friend with a truck assists you with moving, you shall reciprocate with a full tank of gas. Beer and Pizza are also accepted.

7: If your Bro dies, delete his internet history.

8: Be polite around your Bro's lady friend but when he asks what you think, lay the truth on him like a ten-ton slab.

9: Unless it is super busy, there must always be at least a one urinal buffer between each Bro in the restroom.

10: If you shake with a limp hand you are acknowledging non-verbally to the other party that they are in charge, even if you've just met.

11: If two Bros are having a threesome with a girl, you can't look each other in the eyes. But if you happen to accidentally look each other in the eye you must high five. (Note: Fist bumps are also acceptable)

12: All Groceries go from the vehicle to the house in one trip. It does not matter how many bags there are. NO EXCEPTIONS.

13-A: Should a someone hear another disrespecting the Bro of the listener, then the listening Bro must interject to defend the Honor of their Bro.

13-B: Should a Bro be telling a different Bro about a further different Bro, the first Bro shall talk about and treat the third Bro with respect whilst talking to the second Bro. Any and all shit talking about the third Bro is forbidden from happening unless all three Bros are present in the same room for the discussion.

14: Under no circumstances may two Bros share an umbrella.

15: There are specific rules to the 'head nod' when greeting another Bro. If you know them, nod up. If you don't know them, nod down.

16: Casual dating of your Bro's sister is forbidden. If you date them you are to treat her with the utmost respect and give the relationship all the effort you can. (Note: Also applies to cousins)

17: If your Bro's girlfriend or family ask you any questions, deny any and all knowledge of where your Bro is or what he is doing. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you know your Bro is cheating then this rule is encouraged to be disregarded.

18: Bro's do not let bros dress like buffoons.

19: If your drunk friend is about to cheat on his girlfriend, you must follow through with one intervention. If he replies with 'fuck you' then he is no longer a bro, you are free from an responsibility, and may inform whoever you wish about the ex-bro's actions.

20\. A bet is a bet. If a Bro loses a bet with another bro, then they must carry out the agreed upon obligations or an agreement for altered repercussions must be reached.

21: If you have a girlfriend and you go out to the club with your Bros, you are automatically given the job as wingman. From there on out, you must support your friends until they achieve their ultimate goal, whatever that may be within the rules of law and consent.

22\. Respect your bros boundaries. Every Bro has a line, know those lines and do not cross them.

23: Pranking your Bros is bonding. If one decides to engage in pranking, the prank cannot: Injure your bro, cause you or your Bro to be in financial debt, will not result with loss of property. Prank to confuse, not abuse.

24: Do not ditch your Bros for 'some girl'. If the girl is one you've been talking about for weeks and your bros know how badly you want to spend time with her then they will encourage and congratulate you. If it is some girl you met this morning in the Schneebucks line and she seems 'okay' then you can see her tomorrow..

25: Bros don't let Bros drive drunk. Dish out the lien for a cab and then hand him the receipt the next morning.

26: Back up your bros. If your bro gets into a fight and you're unable to calm the situation back your bro up. Even if he's wrong and an idiot, he's _your_ idiot. Note: If he caused the fight for a poor reason, only back up your bro enough to stop serious injury.

27: Do not give another Bro advice on working out unless he asks you. Exception: Huntsmen sharing tips as professional courtesy.

28: All Bros must own at least one suit.

29: For all first dates, especially if the Bro is the one who asked, then the Bro pays the bill.

30: Whether a Bro is into sports or not, a Bro picks a team and supports them until his dying breath.

31-A: Someone attacks your Bro, you get even.

31-B: Someone attacks your Bro's little sister, then they have given up the right to have teeth.

32: A Bro is family.

33: Bros are allowed to know how to dance. Should one mock a Bro for dancing then the mocker is not a bro, they are a Neanderthal.

34: If two Bros have feelings for the same girl, they are not to go behind the back of the other or deceive them to woo said girl.

35: If a bro finds that the wife/girlfriend of another Bro is cheating then they are to collect all the evidence and stand by their Bro in the aftermath.

36: You can ask a Bro how to do something, or tell him how to do something, not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

37: If a Bro gets a group lost by refusing to ask for directions, they lose all navigation privileges for life.

38: If you ask a Bro a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

39: If two bros know the same story, the Bro who is lesser known among the party or group shall tell it.

40: Never drink the last beer at another Bro's house.

41: If you borrow anything from a Bro, it is to be returned in the same or better condition.

42: Thou shalt not hit thy other Bros in the balls for a joke.

43: If a Bro is trying to tell a story to impress someone and you can one-up it, DON'T. Note: If the group only consists of well acquainted Bros then one-upping is expected and encouraged.

44: A bro is to never sacrifice their dignity for a girl, nor should they let another Bro do so.

45: Never hit on a Bro's girlfriend, EVER

46: Never mock a Bro for dating a girl you don't find attractive, it's his life, not yours.

47: Never shame a Bro for getting rejected.

48: If a Bro asks you to keep a secret, then it goes to your grave unless it saves the life or dignity of your Bro.

49: Driver controls the radio.

50: A Bro does not choose their own nickname. All nicknames, whether good or bad, are bestowed upon you by your Fellow Bros.

"…Wow." Yang blinked when they finished reading the book, "Who wrote this thing anyway?" Closing it Yang paused for a moment before pinching the bridge of her nose, "Brothers give me strength." There on the book, sat the names of the official co-authors. Taiyang Xiao-Long and Qrow Branwen.


End file.
